


On Baelsar's Wall

by saltedearthsch



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Baelsar's Wall Spoilers, Hurt, Minor Character Death, Other, Pre-Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21940906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltedearthsch/pseuds/saltedearthsch
Summary: the wheels of fate continue to turn.
Kudos: 1





	On Baelsar's Wall

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea on a piece of lore for my WoL, Sumire, and decided to write it. Only partially different from the real events in game, but I just wanted to get it out of my brain.

Her ears were near ringing with the chaos around her. Men and women once brothers-in-arms now turned on each other, colors that should have marked alliances stained with blood and locked in combat. She had cut down so many traitors already, her heart was almost as heavy as her arms. Lifting her sword once more, her slice formed a crescent and the next opponent was rendered still. 

She had known him as a friend once, a staunch ally in their efforts to unify Eorzea. Second to Alphinaud in leading the Crystal Braves, Ilberd had been one of the few they trusted almost as implicitly as the other Scions. Now, he knelt before her, raving and consumed by the rage of his lost homeland. Though she had no memory of Doma, she thought she could at least understand his pain, the struggle to free his people who had long given up on such an idea. But all this? The lengths to which he had gone? She could never fathom.

“There you are!” She turned to see Papalymo, Yda, and Alphinaud had caught up to her at last.

“As you can see, our infiltrators did not elude me for long. Lady Yugiri is sending for an airship even as we speak,” Alphinaud informed her. Beside him, Yda fidgeted nervously, clearly distressed about the whole situation. 

“What do we do?!” She finally exclaimed, wringing her hands. “This is a massacre!” Sumire opened her mouth, but at that moment a dark chuckle sounded from behind her. Ilberd was staggering to his feet, grinning wickedly at the young Elezen boy.

“How wonderful to see you again…  _ Commander. _ ” Alphinaud balked, then glared.

“Ilberd! I should have known,” he hissed. Ever the diplomat, even in the face of an enemy that was clearly beyond reason, she watched as he dashed forward and attempted to do so. “This has to end! It has to end  _ now!  _ Do you not see your countrymen are dying? Have your ideals rendered you blind even to that?! Order the retreat, and we will help your soldiers to safety!” 

_ Oh Alphinaud,  _ Sumire thought sadly. She knew the events in Ishgard had done much to give him cause to hope that he could end future conflicts with minimal bloodshed. But even she who was as inexperienced in war as he could see that this would not be the case. Ilberd all but confirmed her suspicions. 

_ “Retreat?  _ With the moment of my triumph so close at hand? You truly are a sheltered child, Leveilleur.” Then, to their horror, they watched as he pulled to frozen objects out. Their icy coating diminished the vermillion hue slightly, yet it and the aura of power they emenated was unmistakable.

“Nidhogg’s eyes!” Alphinaud gasped. “...No abyss is too deep for you, I see. But trust me when I say that such power was not meant for mortal hands!” The Ala Mhigan man snarled at him.

“How long I have struggled to reach this point! My countrymen so inured to the taste of defeat, they no longer balk at its bitterness. Shouting my throat raw with rallying cries, only to be greeted with dull eyes and blank faces!

“My brothers and sisters in Ul’dah have surrendered to their apathy and their appetites. Were it not for the glint of Lolorito’s coin, I doubt even those here now would have answered my call! “Take back our homeland! Free Ala Mhigo!” Hah! They’ll happily mouth the words, but they won’t spill the blood!

“You say no mortal should wield these eyes? Then I shall gladly become a demon! I will suckle on the souls of the hopeless, and liberate the homeland they no longer deserve!”

“Ilberd…” Sumire whispered sadly. She could see it, beyond the mad desperation his words conveyed, that he too was hopeless. An animal backed into a corner that saw no way out but to bite and tear at every hand that reached for it. He thought this his only option.

“What exactly do you mean to do…?” Alphinaud wondered, asking allowed the question that accompanied their mounting horror.

“Did you hear their cries as victory was snatched away from them? Even with their dying breaths they cursed the Empire! Never has their desire for vengeance been so raw, so true! A god has no need of faith when  _ summoned  _ by so pure a purpose!” 

“Summoned!?” Papalymo murmured. Beside her, Alphinaud’s voice cracked with shock.

“You cannot mean to fight the Empire with a primal! You know full well the danger -- the  _ futility  _ of relying on such power!” 

“Oh, yes, I know their limitations -- which is why I will call upon a deity more terrible than the very black wyrm of the Calamity itself!” Abruptly, his eyes settled on Sumire, and she was startled to see how clear they were. Where raving madness had swirled, there was now only resolve. “Unless you will join with me, old friend?” She stepped backwards in surprise.

“What?” It was the only question she could manage.

“With your power on our side, surely we could be victorious! Nearly all here have seen the power you have wielded -- against primals, against Ascians and once even the Empire itself! Join me, Warrior of Light, in the fight for liberation.” 

“Ilberd… The path you choose to walk does not lead to freedom,” she said quietly. “It leads to bloodshed in rivers that will turn to lakes, and yet more innocents in graves that could have been avoided!” His face darkened at her words.

“I can see you may require some motivation. Allow me.” He made a gesture and with a start she realized that two more of his followers had appeared. But they were not alone. Two figures, struggling against their bonds, stumbled before them and came to stand beside the Griffin. Sumire’s throat constricted painfully, the air leaving her lungs all at once.

“For seasons now, even before the fall of Doma, Ala Mhigo has struggled. What of her people could escape were greeted not with aegis, but with scorn and poverty! Meanwhile,” he jabbed at her father with his elbow and the Raen man grunted, making Sumire flinch, “those who have escaped like Lady Yugiri are welcomed with open arms and opportunity! Do you not think it fair you lend your sword to those who have suffered like your homeland?”

It felt as if time had slowed down as Sumire regarded her parents. Ilberd’s words brought back to her the stories they had told her of the way the Empire had ravaged their home. Though it was not something she herself had lived through, she had always felt a sort of connected sorrow for the loss. And yet she knew that what he asked, she could not do, not even with a blade leveled to both their necks. Sorrow and indecision choked her, bringing tears to her eyes.

“I…” She realized her mother, ever gentle and kind, was smiling at her, face a reflection of her own in its sorrowful understanding.

“Sweetheart,” she called, voice lilting in that familiar Doman accent, “you know what you have to do, don’t you?”

“I can’t,” she whispered brokenly. Her father’s hollow smile echoed her mother’s. 

“Yes you can. Don’t listen to him. Don’t worry about us. Do what you must.” Biting her lip, Sumire squeezed her eyes shut, the fingers of her free hand clenching into a painfully tight fist. Could she truly do this? Could she make this sacrifice? Through the roaring in her ears, she caught a few words of Doman from her mother, quiet and gentle in the hot winds.  _ Anata ga daisuki. _

“I’m sorry, Ilberd,” she declared, voice raw with unshed tears, “but I cannot do what you ask. You know that.”

“How disappointing.” And she heard the all too familiar sound of metal through flesh. She had known what would happen when she gave her answer, predicting the outcome as easily as in combat. But the sight that greeted her watering eyes still tore a primal scream from her throat, and she fell to her knees, sobbing. Blood pooling about his boots, Ilberd raised his hands to the sky, beginning to draw on the power of the eyes.

She heard Yda yell and try to stop him. Through bleary eyes she watched him move easily out of their reach -- far, too far, to do anything. Her hands and sleeves turned red as she crawled uselessly forward. Reaching for him or her lost family, she knew not which. 

And then Ilberd fell.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! For more headcanons and angsty screaming, follow me on Twitter @ saltedearthsch!


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